Desert Children (MCRKilljoys)
by xtrustnoone
Summary: Adelaide runs from Battery City, hoping to start a new life. What she finds is far from what she expected.
1. Chapter 1

"Our only choice is to search her," the guy who went by Party Poison said.

son's bright red hair whipped across his face in the wind. He wore a jacket as blue as the desert sky. Old, handmade bracelets adorned his tanned arms. The way him and his other gang members stared at me made me uncomfortable. Their eyes were as black as they were in the Battery City newspapers.

"But I'd feel weird searching a girl." Jet Star complained and crossed his arms. Despite the windy day, his crazy fro seemed to stay in one place.

Fun Ghoul laughed. "Fucking pansy."

I looked down at my ripped jeans and sun burnt forearms while they argued amongst themselves. I looked like an absolute savage. No wonder why they didn't feel comfortable giving me a ride. I licked my chapped lips, tasting new blood from a small wound I had opened with my teeth. I sucked on the sore spot and stared up cautiously at the Killjoys.

Jet Star caught my eye and asked, "Where you from, kid?"

I wasn't exactly sure how to respond, but in a hoarse voice I replied. "If I say I'm from the city, you'll kill me. I guess it doesn't matter now anyway. I'm kind of already dead."

Fun Ghoul took off his sunglasses, revealing vibrant green eyes irises rimmed by a forest green. They were eyes you could get lost in. Despite the desert, I could almost smell evergreen and hear the soft sounds of a deep woods. For a small millisecond, I felt like home.

"You're from the city. What part?" He asked, those green eyes full of curiosity.

"Uhh," I tried to find words. "I, uh, I'm from the outskirts."

His lips twitched up into a smile. "Something we have in common, pretty girl."

I could feel my cheeks turning ruby red, not noticeable from my burnt face. Why would he call me pretty? Was he being sarcastic? I ran over the two words pretty girl in my head over and over until they weren't even words anymore. They became merely letters strung together to make some form of compliment that had never been associated with me.

"So are we taking her with us or not? Obviously she's an escapee." Jet Star said, looking at Party Poison. He seemed to be the decision maker of the gang.

"I don't know if I trust her." Kobra Kid spoke up for the first time. "We don't have room for her anyway."

"Of course we have room for her." Ghoul argued. "We can't just leave her here to die. Then we'd be just as bad as the Dracs say we are. Even if it's just for a day or two, we need to take her in and help her out."

Poison sighed, "Fine. It's not permanent and if she pulls any shit, it will be Ghoul's fault. Ghoul is fully responsible for anything that happens to her."

Most of them began walking towards the car. Kobra, who obviously had an attitude problem, kept his arms crossed and trudged most of the way back. However, Ghoul stayed. He reached out a tattooed hand towards me. He smirked. I raised a shaking hand to grasp his and he pulled me up. I noticed how rough and calloused his hands were from the grit of the desert.

I expected him to walk ahead of me, but he kept the same pace as me. He made small talk and tried to figure out what part of the outskirts I was from. I just breathed out one-word answers like smoke. My voice began strong, but faded into a whisper. Standing next to Ghoul was making me do this, I realized. There was something about him that made me feel almost nervous.

Fun Ghoul opened the colorful car door for me, and I slid into an extremely hot Trans Am with cracked vinyl seats. Even worse, I was situated right in the middle. My anxiety flared as I got claustrophobic. The t-tops of the Trans Am were opened, but the sun still filled the car with never ending heat. It had to be over 100 degrees.

Poison took pedal to the medal way too seriously. My head hit the back of the red seat before I could get comfortable. I stared absent-mindedly out the windshield at the road reaching into forever. I had heard that this main road was nicknamed Route Guano. I had no idea why, because Guano was the remains and excrement of bats and other birds. And then it hit me. Draculoids. Vampire design on the masks. Vampires turn into bats. If I wasn't paranoid as fuck, I would have laughed my ass off.

After fifteen minutes, I could feel my eyelids growing heavy. Time after time again I tried to concentrate on the radio blasting, to keep them open, but they eventually shut. I fell asleep from exhaustion.

I awoke after we came to a stop in front of an abandoned inn. I had always thought the Fabulous Killjoys lived their lives in a gas station. I was about to bring it up, but Ghoul answered my question for me.

"Welcome to our home. Shitty on the outside, paradise on the inside. We have them all convinced that we live in a gas station because if we really told them where we lived, we'd be dead." Ghoul grinned at me and opened the door to the Trans Am.

The inn looked like a literal trash heap. The sign out front was missing a few letters, but it looked like at one point it had said, Michelle's Family Inn. It was covered in boards and graffiti. Poison pushed one of the boards aside to reveal a faded, retro looking door. He fumbled with a keychain containing more toys and bottle cap openers than keys. When he finally found the key he was looking for, he slid it in the rusty lock and turned it to the left. The door made a satisfying click, and we all stepped inside.

Poison ran his hand along a dark wall until he found a light switch. The lights flickered on revealing a large kitchen. The inn was obviously a very small one, but the Killjoys had restored it to the best of their abilities. It even had electricity! Despite the musty smell, the place was just as Ghoul said. Paradise.

Poison, Kobra, and Jet walked into a dining area leaving Ghoul and I alone.

"So. This is where we live. Uhm…it's small. It has an entertainment space with a bar which is the closest thing to a living room and we usually eat in the family dining area over there," Ghoul pointed to an old, wood table on the other side of the counter. "We never use the huge dining room for guests. There's a ballroom but it's not much of one. The freezer down the hall is used for other things. We don't have a room ready so you'll have to sleep in my bed for now. I hope you don't mind. If you do mind, you can take the couch but it's not recommended. Any questions?"

"This probably seems rude and I hate to ask but can I take a shower?" I asked, hoping they had some form of running water.

Ghoul shrugged. "I don't see why not. Don't use the hot water. We are trying to conserve. Oh wait I should probably show you my room now."

Ghoul led me down a long hallway outside of the guest dining room. He stopped at the end of the hall near a staircase that led to the second floor and opened a door with the room number 13.

"I wasn't expecting guests so it's a bit of a mess." He said as we stepped into the room.

It was the size of an average motel room with the bed against the back wall and a desk in the right corner. The desk was filled with tools and trinkets of all sorts. The wall above it was covered in plans and messy handwriting on stained paper. To the left were a closet door and a door to the tiny bathroom.

Ghoul went through his stuff and handed me a Grateful Dead t-shirt and jeans. I would have to figure out how to get my belt to keep the baggy pants on, but other than that I knew I could make do with what I had.

I took a cold shower, washing the dirt from every crevice in my body before stepping out and putting on my only bra and pair of underwear along with the clothes Ghoul had given me. I was beating myself up mentally for not bringing a change of clothes with me. It might have saved me trouble in the long run.

Sure enough, Ghoul was sitting on the bed outside waiting for me. He chuckled when I stepped out of the bathroom.

"What?" I asked and narrowed my eyes at him.

"The pants are huge on you. Oh well."

I walked barefoot with Ghoul into the kitchen where he offered me a variety of canned food that frightened me. He laughed at my reactions to them all.

"I'm not going to make you eat this. We don't really digest this. It's all lies." He said, still laughing. "I'll make you a peanut butter sandwich. The bread isn't real bread and the peanut butter isn't really peanut butter but it has the same amount of protein, I guess."

I sat at the small table in the corner, staring at the knots in the wood and thought about how they looked like faces. Ghoul made me jump when he slid a vintage plate in front of me with a sad 'peanut butter sandwich' on it. I was so hungry that it didn't matter if none of it was real. It tasted exactly the same.

"Slow down kid, you'll make yourself sick." Ghoul warned me as he watched me down a glass of water.

"It's been so long." I whispered.

"I'm sure it has." He replied and offered me another glass of water, which I accepted.

I took sips from the ice cold glass and watched the condensation build up on the outside. It reminded me of hot days outside my house from before the war where I sat with my grandmother and watched cars pass by. Before I could linger anymore, Ghoul interrupted my thoughts.

"So, tell me your story." He said.

I sighed and put the glass down on the table. "There isn't much of a story to tell."

"Hm. Well. If you tell me I'll convince Poison to let you stay." Ghoul smiled at me hopefully.

"Why is Poison in charge of everything?" I asked.

Ghoul pried farther. "Don't you have a story to tell?"

I shook my head. "Not really. It's just like everyone else's. Ran away."

"I don't believe that. But I guess you wouldn't want to tell your story to a complete stranger." He said and got up from the table, taking my empty plate. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Ad-"

"I don't want to know your real name." Ghoul interrupted.

"I don't have another name." I said.

He thought for a second before saying, "You flew away from everything you knew to start over. Phoenix. Rising from the ashes."

"Phoenix." I tested the new name to see how it sounded.

"Welcome aboard, Phoenix."

* * *

Desert Children Blog:


	2. Chapter 2

"How do you have electricity and running water?" I asked Ghoul as we cleaned out the storage in the ballroom.

Ghoul was accompanying me on my first job. Tomorrow I got the honor of coming with him to where he worked on explosives and fixing guns.

"Well," He began. "A little ways away from here is a small body of water. My step father was a plumber so I know a little bit about the field. I smuggled a generator from BLI. We can't run too many things at once or it blows. Just letting making you aware. I spent a lot of our money made on fixing this place as soon as I got a job. For a long time we were homeless, you know."

"Why did you decide to come out here?" I asked as I sorted the old records and shifted my position on the creaking floor.

Ghoul dropped a 45" in the pile next to him and replied mockingly, "I wouldn't want to tell my story to a total stranger."

He pulled the next record of the pile and smirked. Ghoul got up from his place on the floor across from me and slid the record onto the record player. After shifting a tiny lever and pressing a button, the needle dropped on the record. It began to play When You Were Young by The Killers.

I kept sorting the records until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped in surprise.

Ghoul laughed and pulled me up from the floor. "May I have this dance?"

"I don't know how to dance." I tried to think up every excuse under the desert sun as to why I couldn't dance with him.

"So? Aren't we friends? Friends don't judge friends."

"But we have to finish this."

"So?"

"I really don't want to fuck this up."

"Fuck what up?"

"Ghoul." I said in aggravation. "Fine."

I began to waltz with him around the small, dusty ballroom. We tripped over each other's feet a dozen times before I started laughing with him. Looking into his green eyes, I felt like I was dancing with someone I knew my whole life. He was the first friend I had ever made. Even after the song ended, we still waltzed. I forgot about what we were supposed to be doing completely.

There was a slam of a door that echoed throughout the room. Ghoul and I stopped at the same time and turned to the source of the noise. Poison stood there, unamused.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Ghoul chuckled. "Lighten up, Poison. We were just having fun."

Poison shook his head. "Whatever your name is, get your job done. Ghoul, come with me. We need you outside."

Ghoul raised a tattooed hand to say farewell before walking out with Poison. I could faintly hear him telling Poison that my name was Phoenix. The sound of the door closing behind them made me jump a little. I realized my face was as red as the peeling sunburn on my arms and I was shaking.

_Fucking coward _I said to myself in response to my thoughts of anxiety and humiliation. _How are you going to survive out here?_

When I finished my job, I lay on the old wood floor and breathed in the cool, musty air. The room had begun to get dark as the sun set and the skylight let in less light. I looked up at the white ceiling and thought about how the cracks made faces and different objects. I tried to bring back the memories of my childhood. I only could remember little bits such as eating ice cream on a hot day on my front porch and learning that the boy across the street I liked to play with had died recently of cancer. The bad bits forced their way into my head. Mom crying on the phone, begging my dad to stay with her because I was so young. Burying my first pet in the pouring rain. Little beads of blood rising to the surface.

Tears formed in my eyes and I pushed them away with my fingers. The door to my left opened and Ghoul stepped in.

"What are you looking at?" He asked and came to join me on the floor.

I pointed up at some of the cracks in the ceiling and explained that they looked like different things. Ghoul put his head closer to mine to see them from my view. He squinted his eyes a bit. I noticed how he smelled of old cigarettes and cologne. The roots of his hair were brown and there was a scorpion tattoo on his neck. He caught me looking at him and turned his head to me.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." I shrugged.

He looked back up at the ceiling, a smile spreading across his face. I smiled too.

"Poison says that you can only stay here for one more day which is tomorrow and then you have to leave." Ghoul said.

My smile faded and the room seemed to get darker. I couldn't leave now. I made my first friend here and I would die on my own.

"Oh." I said sadly, trying to hold in tears.

Ghoul changed the subject. "Why were you crying?"

"I wasn't." I said quickly, obviously lying.

"You were. Was it because of Poison?" Ghoul asked.

"No. I was just thinking about some things." I whispered. "It doesn't matter."

"But it does. Why were you crying?"

My bottom lip began to wobble and the tears came back.

"Why do you care?" I asked and tried to discreetly wipe my face.

"See? You're doing it again. You can tell me, you know. Who would I tell? Shit, I'm being nosy. I'm sorry. But really. Why not tell me?" He was facing me now, his head propped up on his hand.

I began to sob, and I spoke fast. "Just trying to get away from my past. I still can't. I only have one more day here and maybe only you like me but you know, that's okay. I just want to stay. If I have to go back out there, I'm just going to-"

I couldn't finish.

" 'You're just going to...' what?" Ghoul asked.

I didn't respond so he repeated his question. I shook my head and sat up. I need to get out of this room. Ghoul sat up with me and threw his arms around me before I could get up. I didn't hug him back. He pressed his face against mine and whispered in my ear.

"You have to stay alive for me. Do you hear me? You have to stay alive. Because I care about you even if you think no one does."

I nodded and we sat there like that for awhile. I leaned my head against his shoulder and breathed in his scent of old cigarettes and cologne.

Finally he released me and helped me up from the floor. I followed him out into the hallway. He told me to go sit in his room while he got us something to eat.

I sat down on his bed and stared at the wrinkles in the sheets. My head was pounding and I wished to just sleep. I wanted to fall into the deep sleep that dragged you under into an ocean of comfort. It was the kind of sleep where you didn't dream. It was what I needed to feel better. Thinking about it made my eyelids heavy.

Ghoul came in with two plates. He handed me one and I said 'thank you' politely. I didn't quite comprehend what I was eating. It was probably something canned but I didn't taste it. I just filled my stomach until I was full. Ghoul and I didn't talk until he had returned our plates to the kitchen.

"Sleeping here tonight?" He asked.

"Yes." I replied.

While he was getting undressed I realized that I couldn't spend my time worrying about whether he saw me naked or not. He wasn't even paying attention. So I stripped down to just a t-shirt. It was so big that it served as a nightgown.

"Do you want me to wash those?" Ghoul asked, referring to my pile of clothes. "Just put them with mine and they'll be done by tomorrow."

"Yes please." I said and dropped my pile of clothes with his.

I walked to the bathroom to pull back my long hair. I knew I was missing something. I looked at myself in the mirror and squinted. Then I remembered.

"Shit." I muttered.

"What?" Ghoul asked, peeking around the corner.

"Birth control. I left it at home."

"No big deal. I could smuggle some for you." Ghoul shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Could you really smuggle birth control?" I asked, coming out of the bathroom.

He nodded. "But I wouldn't have it by the time you leave."

"Let's not talk about me leaving." I said as I got into bed.

Ghoul smiled and turned out the lights.


	3. Chapter 3

One thing I learned about Ghoul was that he never slept. I woke up in the middle of the night and forgot where I was. The smell of old house and Ghoul's presence reminded me that I was safe and had a roof over my head for one more day. It was extremely dark from the boards covering the windows. I couldn't even see an outline of Ghoul. Suddenly I felt something touch my shoulder and I made a noise of distress in response.

"Sorry to scare you. Can't sleep?" He asked, shifting closer to me.

"I...oh god you scared me so bad. No I just woke up." I whispered in his general direction.

"Oh," He sighed and I could feel him shift even closer to me. "I almost never get to sleep. Maybe for twenty minutes. That's all at one time."

"Why? So what, do you just lay here in the dark?" I asked.

He chuckled. "No. I usually stay up working but I figured you were going to want to sleep. Plus I don't like the dark and you look pretty when you're asleep. I mean you do when you're awake too but it's really special when you're asleep."

I was a little creeped out. "You watch me when I'm asleep? How the fuck can you see me?"

"Oh man that sounded terrible I didn't mean it that way. I meant...nevermind. Forget it. Lets pretend I didn't say that." Ghoul sounded terribly embarrassed.

I changed the subject. "So you're also afraid of the dark?"

Even though I couldn't see him, I could definitely say he was smiling when he spoke next.

"I'm not afraid of the dark, my dear. I'm afraid of what's in it."

I only knew it was morning because Ghoul had pushed the boards away from the windows, letting in natural light through the old glass. The space next to me in bed was empty but still somewhat warm indicating that Ghoul had gotten up not long ago. I could hear the shower running in the bathroom. I took the opportunity to get dressed before he got out of the shower. A pair of clothes were laid out on my side of the bed with an old sticky note on the shirt indicating this is what I was supposed to wear. My clothes from last night were sitting there too, clean.

While I was sitting there staring at the shirt on the bed, something pricked at my brain. Something I was supposed to remember. _My shirt. _My special Pink Floyd shirt. I left it in the city. Had I? No. I remembered shoving it in my pocket as much as I could. I had totally forgotten about it. Where was it? I must have dropped it out of my pocket. No.

Ghoul walked out of the bathroom fully clothed with wet hair as I stood there with no shirt on.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"My shirt." I whispered, the calm before the storm.

"What shirt?" Ghoul asked.

My voice began to rise as I panicked. "Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon. It's a tour shirt."

He looked at me confused at first, and then a lightbulb went off in his head. "Oh! I found it half stuffed in your pocket. It's hanging up to dry so the dryer doesn't ruin the graphics."

I was so relieved I could have kissed him. "Oh thank god. It's one of the only things that I have that I sneaked in from before the war. It's proof that my life existed."

I slipped on the shirt that Ghoul had put out for me, almost putting my head through the sleeve.

"We all have those things that remind us of home that we keep. I know I do." He reached for the necklace around his neck that I hadn't really paid any attention to. "I was some stupid thing I got out of a machine but I've always worn it."

I approached him to look at the necklace. I took it between my fingers. It was a silver circular pendant on a black cord. It had a small design of a star. The necklace was a bit beat up, showing that it was indeed worn all the time. I caught eyes with Fun Ghoul for a second. In that moment I held my breath and I could feel something ache in my chest as I looked into his green eyes. Realizing what I was doing, I smiled awkwardly and stepped away from him.

As I put on my Converse, Ghoul explained to me what we were doing today. All I could think about was that moment between us. I couldn't let myself get attached to him because I was leaving tomorrow. Plus, he was a total stranger. Well, not a _total_ stranger. But I barely knew him. I knew I could trust him and he was truly a very nice person but I couldn't let this happen to me. Not after the last time.

The last time was in 5th grade. There was a kid who sat in front of me with sandy blonde hair. He had brown freckles and his blue eyes sparkled when he smiled. I thought he was one of the cutest kids I had ever seen. He wasn't popular with the other girls because he had broke the heart of Jillian, a popular girl in the school. I liked him so much that I wrote a poem to him anonymously. He thought it was Jillian's poem and told his friends that it was the shittiest poem he had ever read. I went home that day and convinced myself that I hated human beings and that I would never ever date anyone.

"You're going to get made fun of for those shoes." Ghoul pointed out.

"So?" I asked and laced the last shoe.

"No one even wears those. They are so 2013 and probably the tackiest things I have ever seen." Ghoul opened the small closet door and searched until he found a pair of worn boots. "These got too small for me. I think they will be alright for you."

I took the boots from him and inspected the size. They would be pretty big for me but it was better than nothing. I was still sad about leaving my beloved sneakers behind. And for the last god damn time, _they weren't tacky_.

I pulled off my old shoes and slipped on the boots. I reached down to tie them but Ghoul shooed my hands away and laced them himself. I watched as he pulled the laces through and pulled them tight. His long dark eyelashes brushed his cheeks every time he blinked. His long fingers tied the laces into a good knot before he stood up before me and asked me if I was ready.

I felt underdressed standing next to him. He had on a heavy vest and a holster holding his green raygun. His boots were much nicer than mine and he even had a fancy pair of sunglasses to top it all off. I looked like a total hobo.

We raided the kitchen for something quick and made the closest thing to toast before getting into the Trans Am parked in a garage ready to collapse. I noticed how the other Killjoys were missing but their car was still here. Interesting. I got to sit shotgun and pick a tape from the dozen in the glove compartment. They were mostly labeled with numbers and song lists too worn to read. Ghoul described it as, 'Picking your poison, no pun intended'. I slid the tape into the tape player and pressed what looked like the _play_ button. A familiar song played through the speakers.

"This song is so old." Ghoul commented. "But still a good one I suppose."

We didn't speak anymore and listened to the sounds of Skinny Love by Bon Iver as we drove down the dusty road. I leaned into the vinyl seat and closed my eyes. I let the warm sun wash over me. I could get used to this.

It was a short distance from the inn to where Ghoul worked. It was set up like your typical gun shop. Ghoul explained to me that there was no way anyone could come and steal anything because the guy who owned it actually lived there.

"He's more badass than I am and that's saying a lot." Ghoul said as we stepped into the dark and ominous gunshop.

I noticed how Ghoul held the door open for me like a gentleman. I smiled and thanked him. He winked at me in reply.

Ghoul called out to the dark counter before turning on the lights. They were bright enough to give me a headache. "I brought a friend with me to help out."

A man with mousy brown hair and a bright smile approached us. I noticed how skinny he was. I could almost see all of the bones in his hand as I shook it.

"The name is Toxic Skeleton. Most people call me Skele though. And you?" Skele asked.

I almost forgot my name. "Phoenix. Just Phoenix."

"What a beautiful girlfriend you have." He said to Ghoul and smiled.

Ghoul turned a bit pink when Skele called me his girlfriend.

"Oh, uh, she's not my girlfriend. She's just someone we are taking in for now."

"Oh, sorry. Well you never know." Skele winked at the both of us before taking me on a tour of the place.

It looked quite small on the outside, but on the inside it was a rather large place. It was old like the inn, but had a lot more character. Most of the old architecture was preserved with beautiful wooden beams. I always admired old buildings. They reminded me of my old home before the wars. It was built in the style of an old Victorian with a large attic room that happened to be mine. I smiled at the memory.

"Shit." Skele muttered. "Dracs."

We watched as a black and white car passed the gun shop, clearly ignoring the fact that we were here.

"They never come out here. Guess it's S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W on a mission." Ghoul replied as the car faded into the distance. "Good thing they aren't driving towards the inn. I don't think Poison even has pants on yet."

I could feel a tightness in my chest that I acknowledged as panic. I tried to control my breathing. _No not here_, I told myself. I couldn't have a panic attack now. I was in a gun shop with Ghoul. I was safe. I hadn't realized how dependant I was on my medication until now that I didn't have it to calm me.

"You alright over there?" Ghoul asked me.

I could literally feel my skin burning. _It's all in your head._

"Yes, why?" I lied.

Ghoul shrugged. "You've just been really quiet."

Ghoul and I went off to work. He pulled me into one of the storerooms.

"You're panicking. I can tell." He said.

"Yeah. Yeah I am." I breathed. "I feel like I'm going to puke."

"I used to get them a lot. Count backwards from 100 by 3's with me."

I closed my eyes and counted slowly with him. I could feel my breathing even out as I got to 27. When we finished I opened my eyes and saw that he was staring at me.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"I'm alright. Better I guess." I whispered. "I don't feel like I'm going to puke anymore. Thanks."

Ghoul smiled slightly. "Good and no problem."

The day went alright. I helped Ghoul and he tried to teach me along the way. I knew nothing about guns or bombs. I assumed in this world I would need to know a lot about them to survive. Even after he taught me how to make a basic bomb that required no complicated parts, I was still confused. He promised me that later he would teach me how to shoot like a pro. That thought gave me hope.

But later that day I got a taste of real life as we were about to leave. The Dracs came back for us. Ghoul grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me behind the Trans Am. He slid his gun out of it's holster and turned off the safety with his thumb.

Ghoul counted the Dracs. Only four. He motioned for me to stay down while he took them out. My chest was tightening up again.

Ghoul came out from behind the Trans Am and the sounds of gunfire filled the air. Someone grabbed my arm and I was pulled to the left. I swung my fist from my free hand into the general direction of the person grabbing me. It hit home and I saw I had stunned a Drac. I reached over to pull off his mask, but the Drac used that opportunity to hit me in the stomach. It wasn't a hard hit, but it was enough to make me back up so he had enough time to pull out his gun. My head hit the side of the Trans Am. As his hand reached for the gun sitting conveniently in a holster, I threw myself at him and prepared for the impact. His gun went soaring and slid not from us.

I knew nothing about hand to hand combat except how to form a proper fist. I hoped that

just that knowledge and my quicker reflexes would save me. I found I was wrong as the Drac grabbed my arm and tried to snap it. My knee went directly between his legs. I used that opportunity to reach for the Drac's gun. When I picked it up, I noticed how rayguns weren't as heavy as normal guns, but the sense of power I got when I held it made me aware of the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

I held the gun up and aimed at the Drac's head. His dark hair covered his human face. In that moment I realized that he was a human. Just like Ghoul and I. Was I willing to take his life even if it meant saving ours? What if he had a family? What happened when the city had to inform his wife and kids that their father was dead after a savage person such as myself shot him? My head spun with doubts but before the Drac could turn his head to look at me, I looked away before I pulled the trigger.

I slid to the ground and wiped sweat from my face. When I pulled back my hand I saw it was smeared with blood. The blood was everywhere now. I could taste it on my lips and feel it mixing with the sweat on my forehead. The gunfire had ceased and Ghoul dropped down next to me.

"What happened to you?" He asked, referring to my head.

"I...I..uhhh," I couldn't find the words. "I, uh, killed a man."

Ghoul laughed at me and stood up to open the driver's side of the Trans Am. I sat there shaking and staring at the blood on my hands and the gun at my side. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I was panicking again.

Ghoul came back with a clean rag and pressed it against the cut on my head. I took the rag from him as he dragged the bodies away from the car. Skele came out of hiding from inside the shop.

"Looks like you took care of them." He commented.

Ghoul laughed sarcastically. "Yeah but we could have used some help."

Skele came to stand by me. He looked down at my shocked expression and laughed at me.

"You look pale as a ghost. What, you've never seen a dead body before?"

I faked a smile at him. "It's just been a long day."


End file.
